January 19, 2020: Thirsty for Parasite star Song Kang-ho?

THIRST (2009)

dir. Park Chan-wook

February 2, 8:00 PM

Alamo Drafthouse DTLA

Actor Song Kang-ho — best known for starring in Bong Joon-ho films such as Parasite — here plays an uncanny, sympathetic and, uh, super hot Catholic priest who becomes a vampire. Oldboy director Park Chan-wook is behind Thirst, which is a constantly surprising, sometimes salacious horror story turned love triangle which flirts with familiar vampire tropes before warping them into unfamiliar shapes.

AND MORE

BLAIR WITCH 2: BOOK OF SHADOWS (2000)

dir. Joe Berlinger

January 21, 9:00 PM – Alamo Drafthouse DTLA

Artisan Entertainment encouraged people to believe the original Blair Witch Project was an actual documentary. Naturally, some people bought it. That annoyed documentarian Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost), who pitched a sequel about obsessive fans who descend into madness while touring Blair Witch locations. Artisan greenlit the movie but ultimately wasn’t happy with Berlinger’s submitted edit, which interrogated and even mocked the company’s cash cow. A post-production battle turned Book of Shadows into a purgatorial project, which was finally gussied up with extra violence. Despite the fact that the end result is clearly compromised, the original shape of Berlinger’s intended movie is still visible, and Blair Witch 2 is a good cautionary tale about the value of having final cut.

MARTY (1955)

dir. Delbert Mann

January 22, 2:00 PM — New Beverly Cinema

It is remarkable that this — a realistic working-class movie starring Ernest Borgnine as a romantic lead — would ever be as successful as it was at the box office (and the Oscars). But the unfussy Marty, which observes the title character as he reconciles his desire for happiness with the jealousy and judgment of friends and family, is a unique movie. It’s one of the best-ever Best Picture winners, a small, lovingly crafted delight.

THE EXILES (1961) / THE SAVAGE EYE (1960)

dir. Kent MacKenzie / Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick

January 23, 7:30 PM – Billy Wilder Theater

We’ve discussed The Exiles before (way back in the summer of 2018) and will recommend it once again: a documentary/narrative hybrid featuring non-professional Native American actors, focused on the community in L.A.’s now-demolished Bunker Hill neighborhood. This dreamy and somewhat surreal nighttime trek through a part of the city that no longer exists is one of the most significant Los Angeles independent movies. It is well paired with The Savage Eye, another hybrid that uses the story of a recently divorced woman to explore currents of urban isolation and disenchantment.

CHRISTINE (1983)

dir. John Carpenter

January 24, 11:59 PM — Nuart Theatre

John Carpenter’s Stephen King adaptation, about a high school kid (Keith Gordon) locked in an abusive relationship with his car, is basically a perfect midnight movie. Gordon undergoes a full transformation from terminally shy geek to cocky d-bag as he is empowered by his car’s supernatural ability to enable his teen fantasies.

HONEYLAND (2019)

dir. Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov

Begins January 24 – Arena Cinelounge

One of the best aspects of this year’s Oscar nominations is the attention given to this Best Documentary Feature nominee. Honeyland follows an elderly keeper of wild bees in Macedonia as she deals with changes in an environment that had long been static. Filmmakers Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov do not speak Turkish, the primary language of their subjects; while they did gradually translate the dialogue in footage captured over the course of several years, they crafted Honeyland as a largely visual narrative.